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Corporate Cricket Madness Engineered by Fit On Click Sports

Rahul Manwani |
Mar, 2019

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This Eighth edition of Fit On Click’s Corporate Cricket Tournament was presented by Dubai Islamic Bank and supported by Dubai Sports Council. Week-long tournament launched on the 13th of February with the finale scheduled on the 22nd February comprised of 16 well-known corporates that went head to head against one another to get their hands on the big trophy. These teams were divided into 4 groups where they played each other once and the top two teams of each group went on to play the knockout rounds, in an exhilarating T10 format played indoors with the exciting outdoor rules.

The Pre-Tournament Fanatics:

Jersey Unveiling and Photoshoot: Transpired on the 11th of February, all the Captains and Team Representative were invited for a photo shoot in official team jerseys to help develop this edition's official video. As a reminder, trophies were showcased to the skippers just to motivate them in order to set their goals high and prepare for the fight. It was also a chance for these Captains to get acquainted with the rules and regulations of the tournament and to examine the ground where they would spend the next few days playing. All in all, an evening which was focused on generating hype for this tournament and did so through the professionalism and the efforts put in by the organizers.

Let the Games Begin:

There were seven hectic days of group matches to be played followed by one day where all the knockout rounds would be contested.

Day 1 carried a decent day of cricket where we witnessed some new squads to this edition impress their families and work colleagues with some professional performances. But the spotlight was taken by the Noon Ninjas where they pulled off a last over victory out of nowhere against the experienced AW Rostamanis, by successfully defending a less than convincing total.

The Second day was a rather long and intense day of Cricket with 6 matches being played. An absolute treat for the cricket lovers where we viewed a mixed share of old and regulars of this tournament play against some brand-new entries. An evening filled with some surprises, unpredicted winners and a pinch of drama. The tournament was officially underway with everyone discussing who will take home the winner’s trophy.

These competitive matches left us with the question, would we get a new champion or will the current five times reigning champion Dubai Islamic Bank Knightriders add another accolade to their trophy cabinet?

Another memorable game that deserves focus was played on day 5 and it was for all the wrong reasons as the BMA Strikers played their second game against the Autobahns, looked well set to bowl in the first innings but much to everyone’s surprise, the strikers restricted the Autobahns in under 10 runs all thanks to an excellent bowling performance and an absolute break down of batting side’s line up. We were all inching towards the knockout rounds and teams started to feel the pressure. But in a format like T10 a single over can really turn a game upside down.

To add to all these remarkable matches, there was also a bit of some late drama in regard to group rankings with HILTI and Emaar having won two games each, looked all set to qualify for the knockout rounds in their group. That was until Dadabhai Travels stepped in to make life tough for both the teams as they won both their group games on Day 6 to take them on top of their group. Which resulted in HILTI being the scapegoat as they fell just short of Emaar with a difference of 0.05 in Net Run Rate.

Winner takes all:

The much-awaited knockout rounds were here and everyone was buzzing from the players to the team representatives all the way to their friends and family who came in to support their favorite corporations. To add to the pressure there were a lot of high-ranking executives from these 16 corporates to witness their teams go about in the final stages of the tournament. With the quarterfinals, semifinals and the finals being played on the same day, it had all the perfect ingredients for a thrilling day of cricket.

Daikin Chargers took the limelight in the quarterfinals as they became the first team to attain a ticket to the semifinals. It was special for them as this was their first tournament and having reached this far was an achievement on its own. Unfortunately, they were not able to go any further as the Rivoli Yorkers stepped in to spoil the party.

A Dubai Islamic Bank derby was the first semifinals played with Dubai Islamic Bank Knightriders squaring up against the Daredevils. An absolute tough one for the DIB staffs to pick out who came in to support their teams. The game was a rather tough one as both the teams were finalists in the last edition of Fit on Click’s T10 Corporate Cricket Tournament. An exceptional batting performance put up by Dubai Islamic Bank Knightriders denied the Daredevils a coupon to the finals of the Eighth edition of this tournament.

Rivoli Yorkers, the champions of the first edition went up against the current trophy holders the Dubai Islamic Bank Knightriders. Both teams already knew what it feels like to hold the Big trophy and more importantly they knew how to do that. In an intense game of cricket like this, the fans are always the winners. Yorkers fell just short in their batting to take away the big award from the Knightriders.

All’s well that ends well:

With the Rivoli Yorkers and Dubai Islamic Bank Knightriders collecting the Runners up and the Winner’s trophy respectively. The best batsman, bowler, fielder and the player of the tournament trophies were all up for grabs. An absolute thrilling tournament which ended with a bang. With all happy faces in the ended, which the players thoroughly deserved after a hectic week of all out-cricket action. Certainly, a tournament we will not forget in a very long time.

The Edition 9 of Fit On Click’s CT10 Cricket Tournament presented by Dubai Islamic Bank is going to be a highly anticipated one!